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Where is the divide? Tal and greetings once more, I’ve been traveling again and it seems I keep hearing about a different Gor everyplace I go. I hear of Old Gor and how it was and should be again. I hear about the New Gor and the kinder, softer, gentler place it is. I hear about the Role Players from the Lifestylers and how one is living Gor and another is desecrating it. . I have even heard that there is a difference in how Gor is followed between America and Europeans. I heard recently that it is because of the role players that the lifestylers have a difficult time living openly, and how it is their fault for the breaking of the foundation of the philosophies. How so many are hurt because how r/p’ers pretend and make fun of how we choose to live. I’ve heard how the lifestylers are way too serious and don’t give an inch in how it should be. I’ve listened to men talk in channels about how it was in the old days; slaves did as they were told and didn’t argue, men did as it pleased them and nobody told them differently. I’ve talked to those of the"New Breed" and how they feel that it’s just a philosophy and it is up to them to decipher the meaning. What I see is this, wherever I go, I see US arguing. We are arguing with our own. We all are Gor and Gorean, in some way; those of us that in one way or another are trying to live Gorean, be it in a RPG format, in a daily philosophy or in a chat format. We are all part of the whole. We are all Gor. There isn’t anything else! Look at it this way, if I claim to be Native American, you have a guide as to what that means. You look at me and see if I fit a certain build, skin color, hair color and so on. If I claim to be Jewish, then you judge me by a certain persona that is a Jew, the things that are Jewish. If I claim to be English, you expect to hear a certain accent and see a specific demeanor. However, I claim to be Gorean. What do we judge as Gorean? It is certainly not what I wear. I wear jeans and a t-shirt or I wear a shirt and tie. It’s not what I say or how I say it, I’m from California, I don’t have an accent and I’m educated so my diction and grammar are generally correct. It’s not where I go. I go to plays and I go to clubs, I go to work like millions of others, everyday. We judge things Gorean by a set of standards that are in a set of fictional books written by an man who has chosen to live in the United States. These standards are not our own, we did not choose them; we didn’t even have a part in creating them. Yet, these standards are still here. And they hold to certain tests that we place on them. Are they reasonable? I would like to think so. Of everything I’ve read, they are a very valid set of standards. Are they achievable? We do it every day, so I would say they were. Are they definable? I have to laugh, we, as a group, have never had a more defining set of rules since the Ten Commandments. It’s just a matter of reading them and seeing them as rules rather then the mad ramblings of a professor who had way too much time on his hands. That’s what we have chosen to do, right? I have. But here’s the twist, it’s ONE set of rules! Not a dozen, not a thousand, ONE! Yet we continue to set different standards from this one set of rules. Let us not judge one another, but learn to build the bridges to bring us closer to one another and build towards a greater, stronger community. A community that has compassion for our mistakes, a tolerance for our misguided, and a desire to build rather then destroy. And remember, when it comes to being Gorean, we are ALL Gor; all of us make up parts of the whole, and none of us can be Gorean without the other. There is no difference between old and new, role-play and reality, east and west, European and American Gor, there is just Gor! And we have chosen to live by its standards and claim them as our own. Maybe we are all idiots trying to live by a mad man’s dream. But WE are doing it and WE are choosing our lives and where our lives are going. WE are making the decisions, nobody else. And if we fail, it will be OUR fault, nobody elses. Until the next time I settle myself down before this keyboard and toss out words to ignore? I wish you well. PaulC/Daniore
Natures Bounty "It is called manhood, and womanhood, and nature." Beasts of Gor, page 274
Nature- To be born. The inherent quality or basic constitution of a
person or a thing. The physical universe. Ones natural instincts or way of
life. The nature of human existence is as old as time. It is a state in which we are born into the world and universe. It is a basic condition in which one finds themselves using their natural instinct in order to survive in a sometimes-harsh reality. Nature extends itself in many directions in the Gorean environment. It can extend into the natural order of man and woman, into the lives of the people, and also into the beauty of the Gorean environment. The nature of natural order and its consequences is discussed within the story lines of Norman's works. What we find ourselves reading as a simple statement or paragraph may perhaps be a lesson all to itself. Within the fold of the Gorean society is a male dominated existence that extends itself in many directions. Also within the Gorean environment is the revelation that a woman may be simply herself. She may exist as an object of beauty, desire, intelligence, reveling in the discovery of her body and all that she may have to offer. The natural order and its well staged effect on the Gorean environment is comparable to times of old when man took care of society and woman relished to be simply the woman of the house. As one peers through the looking glass, she begins to see that her existence among other things is a simple one. Whereas the male begins to see that his existence is that of man, male, Master, and often times many more things. Among the lesser hierarchy of the Gorean society is the woman. Women are separated into both free and slave classes. While both types exist simultaneously and can be switched. It is the accepted trait that a woman does not find herself unless it is within the depths of slavery. A girl will lose all inhibitions and begin to explore the deeper and more secret desires of her womanhood. This can be brought about by the severe change of her status or just by the simple desire to please the men in which she serves. However, slavery is not for everyone and some simply find the same freedom within station of being a free woman. "All women are interesting," I said. "But consider the matter objectively. Anything that was interesting about you when you were free remains interesting about you now. But now you are additionally interesting because you are in helpless bondage. Too, slavery, because of its relation to a female's genetic predispositions, tends to free her to be herself, rather than an imitator of male-type values. It frees her individuality by liberating her from the necessities of pretense. Too, slavery by removing certain inhibitions and demands alien to a female's deepest nature generally results in an increase in her beauty and energy; she is no longer as constricted and miserable, and needs no longer spend energy fighting to suppress herself and her natural desires, surely a grotesque and pathological misapplication of effort, a tragic waste of time and energy. That the girl, thus, becomes more beautiful and energetic does not, of course, diminish her interest. Indeed, similarity, routine, identity, boredom, those things which tend to make a woman less interesting, tend often to be functions of widespread conformances to externally imposed demands and images. Beasts of Gor, page 275 How can a woman be free until she obeys the laws of her own nature is a simple question if one begins to ponder it long enough. A woman may be gentle, strong, intelligent, and perhaps more. With the inhibitions of earth society removed and the woman being given the freedom of total discovery of herself and her body the mask of modern day earth begins to fall away. It unfolds itself and lets the basic woman begin to peek through in ways that she sometimes would not even consider in other circumstances. The nature of our world is such that it doesn't allow for simple choices, but demands the equal rights of both sexes. This particular aspect of human nature goes against the Gorean aspect of natural order of man and woman. Within the confines of Gor the male is a the dominate person of the society. He is the leader and provider in most instances of common times or even of turmoil. The nature of the male is a mystery in many aspects to the woman, because there are many intricacies and levels in which she cannot understand. The Gorean male has strength, will, and often times many other traits that are not understandable to a woman outside of the Gorean sphere. While some may attempt to understand, the Gorean male relishes the strength in which he was born and has grown in as a strong man, male, and Master of himself. "Strength in men, not weakness," she said, "excites me. You are the strongest man I have ever known." "I am sure there are many men stronger than I," I said. "Physical strength," she said, "is only a small part of what I mean, though it is not unimportant. I mean strength of will. Many men who are strong physically are spineless weaklings, tortured and dominated by women, and ideas. Women, despite what they may feel obligated to proclaim publicly, detest such men, for they betray their dominance, their genetic heritage as male primates, thus cheating not only themselves of the fulfillment of their nature but precluding the woman from also fulfilling hers. It is no wonder that women, in their helplessness and frustration, their own confusions, turn upon such men, hurting them and making them miserable. This, of course, causes such men, who do not understand the problem, to redouble their efforts to be accommodating and pleasing to the females, to give them whatever they want, and to reassure them of anything and everything they wish to hear. A vicious cycle is thus generated." Beasts of Gor, pgs. 273-274 Our nature as a society generates a vicious circle of its own creation in many ways. We have taken the simple things for granted that were once common places in the society in which we survive and live. Gone is the acceptable nature of a woman to be a woman. Gone are the days in which it was acceptable for a man to be strong and vibrant. Gone is the simplistic society in which we took for granted for many hundreds of years. In its places is a society of equal rights for the both males and females. We see simplistic society replaced with the contraptions and confines of modern day technology and living. In all the light that Norman wrote about speaks of a nature of the ancient cultures that most deem to be long forgotten. "There is an escape from this cycle, of course," I pointed out. "Not all human beings are idiots." "Yes," she said. "It is called manhood, and womanhood, and nature." "It is a long time since those of Earth recollected the many names of nature." "It is time again, perhaps," I said, "to seek for her forgotten faces."Beasts of Gor, page 274
This could be the humor column -Ed. I really don’t understand this whole Gorean view. Women should not be treated as lesser people. I respect that everyone has fantasies, and that’s fine, but when people start making statements about men being more than women, well, then it gets personal. I’m not arguing from a one standpoint, I have been a Gorean slave, myself. I (not ’this one’) have gotten out of that a long time ago, realizing that this superiority/inferiority complex is destroying the foundations that women have worked hard to build. We haven’t come all this way just to be cast down in the role of the servants. I’m not saying you should change your site, I have no right to say that. If I truly hated your site, I just wouldn’t go to it. But silence breeds consent, and I’d just thought I’d write this letter to state my opinion. Thank you. |
